Method and apparatus for sorting rivets

Abstract

A method of sorting rivets or similarly shaped articles, and apparatus therefor. Rivets are directed along a track to a notch where they are supported in a shank-down attitude against a rotating gauging wheel having a plurality of gauging holes conforming generally to the shape of the shank. The wheel is rotated so the gauging holes move upwardly with respect to the shanks while grooves in the periphery of the wheel guide the shanks toward the holes. Rivets with a uniform shank will settle into the holes so their heads are below the periphery, while rivets with bent, gouged, burred or oversized shanks will not settle fully into the holes. A rivet kicker timed to the rotation of the wheel ejects rivets not fully settled in the holes. Fully settled rivets are blown out of the gauging holes into a tube where they are conveyed by air towards a riveting machine.

We claim: 
     
       1. A machine for sorting headed rivets or the like articles having straight, uniform shanks from those having irregular shanks comprising: a movable gauging member defining an outer boundary and having gauging means for receiving articles with uniform shanks and permitting the article heads associated with the uniform shanks to extend within the boundary while maintaining article heads associated with non-uniform shanks outwardly of the boundary;   first means for guiding the articles toward the gauging member for receipt by the gauging means;   second means for removing to a first location the received articles with heads extending outwardly of the boundary;   third means for removing to a second location the articles with head extending within the boundary; and   drive means for moving the gauging member.   
     
     
       2. The machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein the gauging member comprises a wheel with a rim portion and the gauging means includes shank-receiving means extending inwardly from the rim portion conforming to the shape of and for receiving the uniform shanks. 
     
     
       3. The machine as set forth in claim 2 wherein the first means includes track means for guiding the articles one after the other in a shank-down attitude against the rim portion and wherein the drive means rotates the wheel in a forward direction such that the rim portion moves upwardly with respect to the shank. 
     
     
       4. The machine as set forth in claims 1 or 2 wherein the second means comprises ejection means movable adjacent the boundary for contacting the article heads extending outwardly of the boundary. 
     
     
       5. The machine as set forth in claims 1 or 2 wherein the third means comprises means for providing a blast of air to the gauging means and forcing the received article therefrom. 
     
     
       6. The machine as set forth in claim 3 further comprising fourth means located above and rockable up and down with respect to the track means for contacting the article heads and biasing the articles downwardly and toward the rim portion. 
     
     
       7. The machine as set forth in claim 6 wherein the fourth means includes a head-contacting roller and means responsive to the rotation of the wheel for rocking the roller up and down in timed relation to the movement of the rim portion. 
     
     
       8. The machine as set forth in claims 2, 3 or 7 wherein the gauging means includes a rounded guide portion extending from a location on the rim portion toward the shank receiving means and a tapered section connecting the guide portion and the shanks receiving means, so that the shanks are guided toward the shank-receiving means by the rounded guide portion and the tapered section. 
     
     
       9. A machine for sorting headed rivets or the like articles having irregular shanks from those having straight uniform shanks, the machine comprising: rivet supply means for directing the rivets one after the other toward a first position wherein each succeeding rivet is supported in a shank-down attitude;   wheel means rotatable in a forward direction adjacent the rivet supply means and including an outer rim portion for contacting the shank of the rivet supported at the first position as the wheel means rotates in the forward direction, the wheel means including guide means tapering radially inwardly from the rim portion and terminating in a rivet gauging portion including a shank-receiving hole conforming generally to the shape of and for receiving the straight uniform shanks and for preventing irregular shanks from being fully received therein so the head of an irregular shanked rivet projects radially outwardly beyond a preselected boundary;   means for rotating the wheel means in a forward direction;   first means for ejecting from the wheel means to a first location rivets which project outwardly beyond the preselected boundary; and   second means for removing from the wheel to a second location rivets with heads radially inwardly of the preselected boundary.   
     
     
       10. The machine as set forth in claim 9 wherein the first means comprises movable means reciprocable adjacent the rim portion and having a head-contacting portion for removing from the wheel means the irregularly-shanked rivets which have heads projecting radially outwardly, and means timed with the rotation of the wheel means for reciprocating the movable means adjacent the rivet gauging portion. 
     
     
       11. The machine as set forth in claims 9 or 10 wherein the second means comprises an air channel in communication with the shank-receiving hole, and means for directing air through the channel and into the hole to blow the rivets from the hole. 
     
     
       12. The machine as set forth in claim 9 further comprising means located adjacent the rivet supply means and responsive to the rotation of the wheel means for directing the rivets in turn to the first position and urging the shank of the rivet in the first position toward the guide means. 
     
     
       13. The machine as set forth in claim 11 wherein the second means further comprises an air conveyor located between the wheel means and the second location for conveying the rivets blown from the hole toward the second location. 
     
     
       14. A machine for sorting headed rivets or the like articles having uniform cylindrically-shaped shanks from those having non-uniform shanks, comprising; a gauging member having a rim portion and rotatable about a generally horizontal axis, the member including a gauging location defining a cylindrically-shaped shank-receiving hole extending into the member, the axis of the hole extending generally perpendicular to a line extending radially through the gauging location so that the axis of the hole is substantially vertical when the gauging location is in a preselected position wherein it intersects a horizontal plane through the horizontal axis of the gauging member and wherein the shank-receiving hole has a diameter approximately equal to but slightly larger than the diameter of a uniform shank and has an axial length at least generally approaching the length of a uniform shank;   first means for supporting an article adjacent the preselected position in a shank-down attitude;   second means for rotating the gauging member about its axis in the direction to move the gauging location upwardly with respect to the shank of the supported article;   third means for guiding the shank toward the shank-receiving hole as the gauging location is moved upwardly with respect to the shank and permitting the shank if uniform to settle beyond a preselected location within the hole; and   means for removing from the hole those articles which settle beyond the preselected location within the hole.   
     
     
       15. The machine as set forth in claim 14 wherein the third means includes a roller member movably supported above the preselected position and selectively positionable on the head of the supported article. 
     
     
       16. A machine for sorting headed rivets or the like articles having cylindrical shanks with a radius less than or equal to a preselected radius from those articles having non-cylindrically shaped shanks or cylindrically shaped oversized shanks with a radius greater than the preselected radius, the machine comprising: a movable gauging member having a gauging location defining a cylindrically shaped gauging hole with a radius approximately equal to but slightly larger than the preselected radius and an axial length at least approximately equal to the length of the shank;   means for releasably supporting the articles one after the other in a shank-down attitude adjacent the gauging member;   means for moving the gauging member to move the gauging location upwardly with respect to the means for supporting;   means for guiding the shank of the supported article into the gauging hole as the gauging location is moved upwardly with respect to the means for supporting and permitting the cylindrical shanks with a radius less than or equal to the preselected radius to settle downwardly into the gauging hole beyond a preselected location while maintaining oversized or non-cylindrically shaped shanks above the preselected location; and   means responsive to the location of the shank with respect to the gauging hole for selectively directing the article from the gauging member to one of at least two different paths.   
     
     
       17. A method for sorting headed rivets or the like headed articles having irregular shanks from those having straight uniform shanks, including the steps of: supporting the articles in turn in a shank-down attitude against the periphery of a rotatable gauging device having a gauge hole extending inwardly from the periphery and conforming generally to the shape of a straight, uniform shank;   rotating the gauging device in a forward direction such that the gauge hole moves upwardly with respect to the shank of the supported article;   guiding the shank toward the gauge hole as the gauging device is rotated and permitting the shank to settle in the gauge hole as the hole moves upwardly, wherein the shank of each rivet with a straight, uniform shank will settle fully in the gauge hole and each article with an irregular shank settles less than fully in the hole;   removing each article not fully settled in the gauge hole to a first location; and   removing each fully settled article to a second location.   
     
     
       18. The method as set forth in claim 17 wherein the step of removing each article not fully settled in the gauge hole includes the step of reciprocating an ejector adjacent the gauge hole after the step of guiding the shank toward the gauge hole. 
     
     
       19. The method as set forth in claims 17 or 18 wherein the step of removing each fully settled rivet includes introducing a blast of air into the gauge hole. 
     
     
       20. A method for sorting headed rivets or the like headed articles having irregular shanks from those having straight uniform shanks, including the steps of: supporting in turn each article in a shank-down attitude;   moving a member with a downwardly extending gauging hole upwardly with respect to the supported article;   during the step of moving, guiding the shank of the supported article toward the gauging hole;   during the step of guiding, permitting the shank to drop into the gauging hole whereby a straight uniform shank will drop downwardly to at least a first position relative to the member and an irregular shank will remain above the first position; and   removing the article from the member to a first location if the shank is above the first position and to a second location if the shank is at or below the first position.   
     
     
       21. The method as set forth in claim 20 wherein the step of removing the article includes, moving a rivet ejecting member along a path adjacent and generally parallel to the axis of the gauging hole to contact and remove from the hole the article if its shank remains above the first position while avoiding the article if the shank is at or below the first position. 
     
     
       22. The method as set forth in claim 21 including, after the step of moving the rivet ejecting member, introducing a blast of air into the gauging hole to remove any article located therein. 
     
     
       23. A method of supplying gauged rivets having cylindrically-shaped elongated shanks with heads to a riveting machine, including the steps of: (1) gauging the rivets in turn along substantially the entire length of the shank, the step of gauging including: (a) providing a gauging location defining a hole with a cylindrically-shaped boundary conforming generally to the shape of the shanks;   (b) axially aligning the shanks in turn with the gauging location hole; and   (c) moving in turn each axially aligned shank and gauging location hole towards each other while permitting the shank to settle into the hole, the gauging location and the aligned shank cooperating such that straight shanks with a radius less than that of the radius of the gauging location hole will settle at least to a first location with respect to the hole and shanks either having a radius anywhere along their length greater than the radius of the hole or being bent off-axis along their length will settle less than to the first location; and     (2) conveying in turn those rivets with shanks which settle at least to the first location towards the riveting machine.   
     
     
       24. The method as set forth in claim 23 wherein the step of conveying includes: directing pressured air against the rivets to move the rivet from the gauging location towards the riveting machine.   
     
     
       25. The method as set forth in claims 23 or 24 wherein the steps of axially aligning includes supporting the rivet by its head in a shank-down attitude, and the step of moving includes raising the gauging location with respect to the rivet and permitting the shank to settle by gravity into the hole.